Self-released God’s Teeth And The Interstellar Tropics are a psychedelic improv threesome hailing from Brighton. Suitably mysterious, extra details are scant, but I’m liking the airy acrobatics on this, their third release, GNASH.
Yearly archives: 2018
232 posts
Gizeh After a collaboration between guitarist / sound manipulator Jean DL and film-maker Sandrine Verstraete in 2015, Jean called in Canadian cellist Julia Kent to help provide a soundtrack to Sandrine’s latest video installation The Great Lake Swallows. Over a perfectly succinct twenty-six minutes, split into four subtly different tracks
Tom Bench interviews composer and film-maker Phill Niblock as he embarks on a series of concerts around Europe.
Fish Of Milk (Australia and New Zealand) / ReR Megacorp (Europe and Japan) / Northern Spy (Americas) This newbie from Australian improv giants The Necks plays a Charlemagne Palestine-like long game (or it appears so) in a snakes and ladders of subtle tone shifts and erosions. A deceptively simple premise that sleekly seduces, seeps in there, tingles in the fragmentary unison of a trickling piano and scattered percussives.
Thrill Jockey I was fortunate enough to catch Glenn Jones playing with Cul de Sac in support of Damo Suzuki many years ago and their freeform repetition was a perfect match for Damo’s mantra-like vocalising. The freedom and experimentation that Cul de Sac embodied is quite a contrast to Glenn’s solo guitar work, and really goes to show how varied and thoughtful he is as a performer.
Hubro Yet another ideas-filled release from Hubro finds Anja Lauvdal and Hans Hulbaekmo from improv monster Skadedyr joining up with double bassist Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson to strip things down a little and see how far they can push the capabilities of a piano / bass / drums trio in the light of how far Norway is pushing jazz. This is not necessarily jazz as we may recognise it, but more three […]
Karlrecords A Philosophy Warping, Little By Little That Way Lies A Quagmire documents the second collaboration between Konstrukt and the Japanese avant-garde / noise icon Keiji Haino. This live manifestation, captured at SalonIKSY back in December last year, (and confusingly carrying the same title as its studio sister) is a meaty two-track beast that makes you envious you missed out on witnessing it in the flesh.
Buried Treasure A book, a CD, a crackle, a cackle. It’s an undialled radio… buzz… Echoes a little of 2000AD’s Zenith… perhaps even the first few episodes of Hellboy… this is England Calling, The Delaware Road… a little graphic play, beautifully illustrated…. A Black Mass…
By Norse Music Tradition’s a funny old concept, isn’t it? For how long and how often does something have to occur before it counts as a tradition? Are some traditions more traditional than others? How does one measure something’s traditionality?
Màgia Roja/ BFE Unlike the seemingly endless crop of darkwavers with weird keyboard characters for names, Silvia Konstance Costan and her partner in Dame Area, the Catalan underground veteran Victor Hurtado, stab at something less generic
Glacial Movements Glacial Movements have one of the most perfect record label names and so far those releases that have arrived here have lived up to the name. Tropic Of Coldness is a duo based in Brussels that work primarily in a soft focus haze of washes and drones, using mainly guitars and synths to produce gentle, drifting soundscapes.
London 22 July 2018 With a backdrop of toy robots, Rodney Cromwell were first up to ply their wares. A solid three-piece with a rather special take on synth-led indie, they breeze through their upbeat and groovesome set.
Hubro Once again Hubro are reporting from the coal face of the Norwegian experimental and improv scene with the latest release from the many-legged and multi-talented Skadedyr. With their third album for Hubro and band membership this time around weighing in at a good dozen, you could be forgiven for thinking that there are too many involved, but that would be most misguided.
Pompeii 19 July 2018 Pompeii, the city frozen in time, its people caught like statues in their death throes as the volcano erupted around them. The place is as stunningly beautiful as it is tragic; it is awe-inspiring as you feel transported back in time. The place has also become synonymous with progressive rock
Cyclic Law Sweden’s Peter Andersson has been running his Raison D’être ambient project since 1991, with a multitude of releases over the years including recent collaborations with Germany’s Troum. However, unlike a lot of ambient pieces that can have a tendency to sit outside of your eyeline and merge into the background, with Peter’s latest there is a lurking presence at work
Domino I remember the first things that I reviewed for Freq were the Medical Records re-issues of the first two Pram albums, long out of print and absolutely essential. Whilst undertaking that I figured that it was unlikely we would ever see another new Pram album, considering Rosie Cuckston‘s move to academia and loss of musical impetus. So eleven years after The Moving Frontier was released
London 14 July 2018 Ah, those summer OTO nights. It’s so hot in here that I can almost feel the electrolytes leeching from my body. With my dotage rapidly approaching, this is one of those sauna-with-the-clothes-on experiences which I really wouldn’t put myself through anymore were it not for the presence of genuine greatness.
Ici d’Ailleurs Based on one of the final works of Carl Jung where the alchemical informed psychology, Uruk’s second outing is another psychological pleasure for the headphonically inclined.